Assassin of Gor

by Norman, John;

  “I will tell you,” I said, coming close to her and sitting down cross-legged.

  “I myself,” she said, pointedly, “learned very little.” She looked at me. “I was all tied up, so to speak,” she said.

  “So to speak,” I admitted. “But,” said I, “I learned enough for both of us.”

  I then, in great detail, told Elizabeth all that I had seen and learned the night before. She was generally intrigued, though frightened when I spoke of the thing called the beast, and distressed when I mentioned the girls brought from Earth, to be sold as slaves from the House of Cernus.

  “What is our next step?” she asked.

  “It is to learn more of the House of Cernus,” I said. “Do you know much of the House?”

  “I know certain areas quite well,” she said. “Further, I can receive a pass tile from Caprus to go most places in the house.”

  “But there are certain places that are forbidden?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “I expect,” I said, “I should undertake a bit of exploring.”

  “First,” she said, “learn what areas of the House are open. I would suppose you could go many places I could not. On the other hand I would have access to records that you would not, in the office of Caprus. Ho-Tu, I am sure, would be pleased to guide you. That way you would be familiarized with the House and would also, indirectly, have the forbidden areas clearly marked out for you.”

  I thought about it. “Yes,” I said, “that is a good plan. It is simple, natural, deceptive, and likely of success.”

  “With a good breakfast,” said Elizabeth, “I am a pretty shrewd wench.”

  “That is true,” I admitted. “You are not bad before breakfast either.”

  “But after breakfast,” said she, “I am extraordinary.”

  “It is now after breakfast,” I informed her.

  “Well,” said she, smiling, “I think you will find that after breakfast I am extraordinary.”

  She leaned closer to me, smiling, putting one finger up to my shoulder.

  “But I have not yet had breakfast,” I said.

  “Oh,” she said.

  “Show me where the important people eat,” I said.

  “All you ever think about is food,” she said.

  “That’s not all I ever think about,” I said.

  “That’s true,” she admitted.

  Elizabeth led me to a room off a kitchen on the third floor of the cylinder. There were some men in the room, mostly men-at-arms but some staff members, a Metal Worker, two Bakers and a pair of Scribes. The tables were separate and small. I sat behind one, and Elizabeth knelt back of me and to my left.

  She lifted her head, sniffing. I did so, too, scarcely believing my nose. She looked at me, and I looked at her.

  A girl slave, in a white tunic and white collar, barefoot, came to the table, and knelt before it.

  “What is that I smell?” I asked.

  “Black wine,” said she, “from the Mountains of Thentis.” I had heard of black wine, but had never had any. It is drunk in Thentis, but I had never heard of it being much drunk in any of the other cities.

  “Bring two bowls,” I said.

  “Two?” asked the girl.

  “The slave,” I said, indicating Elizabeth, “will taste it first.”

  “Of course, Master,” said the girl.

  “And put bread over the fire,” I said, “and honey, and the eggs of vulos, and fried tarsk meat and a Torian larma fruit.”

  The girl nodded and, rising gracefully, backing away a step or two, head down, turned and went to the kitchen.

  “I have heard,” I said to Elizabeth, “that black wine is served hot.”

  “Incredible,” she smiled.

  In short order two bowls, steam curling out of them, were brought and placed on the table.

  I sat there staring down at them, and Elizabeth did, too. Then I picked up one of the thick, heavy clay bowls. Since no one was looking, we knocked the bowls together gently, and put them to our lips.

  It was extremely strong, and bitter, but it was hot, and, unmistakably, it was coffee.

  I shared the breakfast with Elizabeth, who informed me that it was better than the porridge below in the trough in the feeding room for female staff slaves, marvelous though the latter might have been.

  “I envy you free ones,” said Elizabeth. “Next time, you be the slave and let me be the Assassin.”

  “Actually,” I said to Elizabeth, “this is very rare. Thentis does not trade the beans for black wine. I have heard of a cup of black wine in Ar, some years ago, selling for a silver eighty-piece. Even in Thentis black wine is used commonly only in High Caste homes.”

  “Perhaps it is from Earth?” she asked.

  “Originally, doubtless beans were brought from Earth,” I said, “much as certain other seeds, and silk worms and such, but I doubt very much that the ship I saw last night had in its cargo anything as trivial as the beans for black wine.”

  “You are probably right,” said Elizabeth, taking another sip, her eyes closed.

  I was troubled for a moment, but it passed, recalling that the Warrior who had been slain presumably in my stead on the bridge in the vicinity of the Cylinder of Warriors in Ko-ro-ba had been of Thentis.

  “It is very good,” said Elizabeth.

  Breakfast finished we returned to the compartment, where I untied my signature knot, with which I had closed the door. We entered, and I closed the door, put the beams in place, and took off my sword belt.

  Elizabeth had gathered up the love furs which I had kicked across the room and had spread them at the foot of the couch. Now, as though suddenly weary, she reclined on them, looked at me, and yawned.

  “When do you have to report to Caprus?” I asked.

  “He is one of us,” she said. “He holds me to no close schedule, and lets me leave the house when I wish. Yet I suppose I should report in upon occasion.”

  “Are there other assistants to him?” I asked.

  “He manages several Scribes,” she said, “but they do not work closely with him. There are some other girls, as well, but Caprus is permissive, and we come and go pretty much as we please.” She looked up at me. “If I do not report in too regularly,” she said, “all will assume I have been detained.”

  “I see,” I said.

  “You have been up all night,” she said, “you must be tired.”

  “Yes,” I said, reclining on the love furs.

  “Poor master,” said she, poking me in the neck with one finger.

  I rolled over and seized her in my arms, but she turned her head away, and seemed determined that I should not kiss her. She laughed. “Whose knots are neater?” she asked.

  “Yours, yours, yours,” I mumbled, “yours, yours,” in frustration.

  “Very well,” she said, “you may kiss me.”

  I did so, grumbling as she laughed. An Ahn later, however, I had my vengeance.

  “Will you eat out of my hand?” I inquired.

  “Yes, yes!” she cried.

  “Even when we are alone?” I inquired.

  “Oh yes, yes, yes!” she cried.

  “Do you beg to do so?” I asked.

  “Yes!” she cried. “Yes!”

  “Beg,” I told her.

  “Vella begs to eat from master’s hand!” she cried. “Vella begs to eat from master’s hand!”

  I laughed.

  “You big beast!” she laughed.

  We kissed one another much.

  “You have always been able to make me eat out of your hand, Tarl Cabot,” said she, “you big beast.”

  I kissed her again.

  “But my knots,” she said, “are still neater.”

  “That is true,” I admitted.

  She laughed.

  “There is nothing like coffee and a good wench after breakfast,” I told her.

  “I told you,” she said, “after breakfast I am extraordinary.”

  “You
were right,” I said. “You were right.”

  After we had kissed I rolled over and fell asleep, and Elizabeth busied herself about the compartment, afterward leaving to go to the office of Caprus, perhaps about the twelfth hour. She would tie her signature knot on the outside of the door. On the inside we had cut the loop and with a simple knot tied the two cords together, so that, when we wished, we might let ourselves out of the compartment without cutting the cord on the inside. I slept long and she came and went in the compartment more than once. At last, about the seventeenth hour, she returned, set the beams in place and lay down beside me, putting her head on my shoulder.

  I saw that she now wore in her nose the tiny, fine golden ring of the Tuchuk woman.

  9

  I Learn of the House of Cernus

  Ho-Tu, as Elizabeth had suggested, was only too willing to show me about the House of Cernus.

  He was pleased with the size and complexity of the operation, which was indeed impressive. It was, of course, the largest and most opulent of the slave houses in Ar. The House of Cernus was more than thirty generations old. It had bred slaves as well as handled them for more than twenty-five generations. The breeding lines of the House of Cernus were recognized, with those of the House of Portus, and certain other of the large slave houses, throughout known Gor. To a slaver, certain girls can be recognized at a glance, as being of certain varieties developed by certain houses. The primary goals of the program, of course, wherever found, are beauty and passion. On the other hand, considering the large number of slaves on Gor, only a small fraction are carefully bred; a larger fraction is bred, but more haphazardly, as when a given male of one private house is mated, for a price, with a given female of another house. Often in these matters, conducted under supervision, both slaves are hooded, in order that they not know who it is with whom they are forced to mate, lest they might, in their moment of union, in their common degradation, care for one another, or fall in love. The largest number of slaves, however, far larger than the bred slaves considered as a group, are those who have been born free and have fallen into slavery, a not uncommon fate on this cruel, warlike world, particularly for women. Slave raids are a major business, and from time to time, a city falls. Slavers are angry, incidentally, when a city does fall, for then the market is likely to be depressed for months, due to the influx of new slaves, sometimes numbered in the thousands. The slavers, by the way, indulge in speculation and manipulation whenever possible, trying to anticipate changes in fashion or control them. I suspected that the House of Cernus was attempting to create a need for barbarian girls, if only to add variety to a rich man’s Pleasure Gardens—girls of a sort it seemed it could supply in numbers not possible to competing slavers. The major obstacle to this plan, of course, was that barbarian girls tended to be ignorant and untrained. On the other hand, such girls might be trained, and I suspected that Cernus might have in mind some such experiment with Elizabeth.

  The House of Cernus, which is a broad, many-storied cylinder, has a number of facilities which any large slave house must have. The only difference between these facilities in the House of Cernus and such facilities in other houses would probably have been in size, numbers of staff and lavishment of appointment. I have already mentioned the baths in the House of Cernus, which can rival some of the pools in the gigantic Capacian Baths, the finest of known Gor. Less impressive perhaps but even more essential to the operation of the House were its kitchens, its laundries, commissaries and storerooms; its medical facilities, in which dental care is also provided; its corridors of rooms for staff members, all of whom live in the House; its library, its records and files; its cubicles for Smiths, Bakers, Cosmeticians, Bleachers, Dyers, Weavers and Leather Workers; its wardrobe and jewelry chambers; its tarncots, two of them, opening by means of vast portals to tarn perches fixed in the side of the cylinder; its training rooms, both for slaves and for guards, and for those learning the trade of the slaver; recreation rooms for the staff; eating places; and, of course, deep in the cylinder, various pens, kennels and retention facilities; as well as a chamber in which slaves are processed, collared and branded; deliveries to the House of Cernus, both of foodstuffs and materials, and slaves, are frequent; it is not unusual that a hundred slaves be received in a given day; the total number of slaves in the house at any one time, a shifting population, of course, tends to be between four and six thousand. Many of these, of course, are simply put in pens and retained there until removed for sale; some lots are wholesaled to minor slavers, usually coming in from distant cities to pick up merchandise, which tends in Ar to be abundant and, on the whole, reasonably priced. Ar is the slave capital of known Gor. Although there are some private show and sales rooms in the House of Cernus, and private auctions and exhibitions, intended to interest prospective clients, are held, most slaves, of the House of Cernus and others, are sold in one of the five public auction houses, licensed and taxed by the Administrator of Ar. The major auction house, the Curulean, contains the great block. It is a great mark of prestige among slave girls to be selected for sale from the great block in the Curulean, and girls tend to compete viciously among themselves for this honor. To be sold from the Curulean great block is almost a guarantee of a rich master, and a luxurious pleasant life, though it be, of course, only that of a slave. As at many of the larger markets, there are Musicians near the block, and a girl is given enough time to present herself well. At the minor blocks in the small houses, or even the minor blocks in the Curulean, sales are conducted with a swiftness and dispatch that gives the girl little time to interest and impress buyers, with the result that even a very fine girl, to her indignation and shame, may be sold for only an average price to an average buyer, who may use her for little more than, as it is said, kettle and mat. This type of thing is at its worst when large numbers of girls must be sold, as when a city has fallen. Then, stripped, chained by the throat, in a long chain of girls, each separated from the other by about ten feet, secured not even by the dignity of a collar but only by a loop of the communal chain bolted or padlocked about her neck, each is dragged up the steps of the minor block, bid upon while a one-Ehn sand clock is turned, sold for the highest bid that comes forth in one Ehn, and then dragged down the steps on the other side, making room for the next girl.

  “This is the best of our private auction rooms,” said Ho-Tu.

  I looked into one of the private salesrooms in the House of Cernus. It would seat no more than a hundred buyers. The tiers in the room were of marble. The room itself was draped in rich purple. The block itself, interestingly, as tradition required, was rounded and of wood. On its surface there was sprinkled, again in one of the conventions of Gorean tradition, some sawdust. Female slaves, incidentally, are always sold barefoot. It is good for the girl to feel wood and sawdust beneath her feet, it is said.

  I was a bit sad as I looked at the block. I knew that in such places private auctions were sometimes conducted, discreetly, for favored clientele, many times slavers themselves. At such private auctions, conducted secretly, Gorean slavers sometimes find it convenient to dispose of important, High Caste women without trace, sometimes even from the city of Ar itself, perhaps women who have lived proudly, luxuriously, not more than a pasang or two from the rounded, wooden block from which they now find themselves, to their horror, being sold. Who knows what women, freshly branded, hooded and braceleted, chained in the slave wagons, pass to and from Ar?

  Passing down a corridor, trailing after Ho-Tu, we stopped briefly to peer into a large room. In this room I saw two slave girls, clad in yellow livery with yellow collars, as Elizabeth normally was, kneeling opposite one another. One girl was dictating from a piece of record paper held in her hand and the other girl was copying it rapidly on a second piece of record paper. The speed with which this was done informed me that some form of shorthand must be being used. Elsewhere in the room there were some free men, Scribes I gathered though they were stripped to the waist, who were inking, using a silk-screen proces
s, large sheets of layered, glued rag paper. One of them held the sheet up inspecting it, and I saw that it was a bill, which might be pasted against the wall of a public building, or on the public boards near the markets. It advertised a sale. Other such sheets, hanging on wires, proclaimed games and tarn races. The common thread in these various matters was that the House of Cernus was involved, either in presenting the sale or in sponsoring the races or games.

  “This may interest you,” said Ho-Tu, turning down a side corridor. There was a door at the end of this corridor, and two guards posted. They recognized Ho-Tu immediately, of course, and unlocked and opened the door. I was much surprised when I saw, about four feet inside this door, a second door. In this second door there was an observation panel, which slid back. A woman looked through the panel, saw Ho-Tu and nodded. In a moment I heard two iron bolts being withdrawn and we entered another corridor. I heard the door being bolted again behind us. In the corridor we passed another woman. Both, interestingly, wore long, rather graceful white gowns, and had their hair bound back with bands of white silk. Neither had worn collars.

  “Are they slaves?” I asked Ho-Tu.

  “Of course,” he said.

  We saw another woman. We had not yet seen a man in this corridor.

  Ho-Tu turned into a side corridor and we found ourselves, to my surprise, looking through a huge rectangle of glass, some twelve feet high and perhaps fifteen feet wide; it was one of a dozen such panels I could see in the corridor.

  Beyond the glass I looked into what seemed to be a Pleasure Garden, lit by energy bulbs radiant in its lofty ceiling. There were various hues of grass, some secluded pools, some small trees, a number of fountains and curving walks. I heard the music of a lute from somewhere. Then I stepped back for I noted, coming along one of the curving walks, two lovely girls, clad in white, their hair bound back with white silk; they were quite young; perhaps less than eighteen.

  “Do not fear,” said Ho-Tu. “They cannot see you.”